I think this is a decision your kid should make. Most good math CS programs are a mixture of seminar and lecture style formats. A beginning algebra or analysis or applied linear algebra class could have between 50 to 100 students. Many CS classes have 100s of students in them. Sometimes the kids learn by being around other kids and by learning how to interact with teaching fellows.
At Reed (my alma mater), the “conference method” (i.e., seminar method) is the model, and it works for almost all subjects. Some courses do not have seminars (e.g., chemistry, and math, as I recall). But the vast majority do. In Humanities courses in 1st and 2nd yr it’s common to have combination of large lectures and conferences. This worked really well in my experience. In Hum 110, for example, I might be sitting in lecture hall with 200 students 2-3 times per week, but then in conference (seminar with 15-20 students led by a professor – no TA’s) once per week as well. Over the course of a semester, perhaps a dozen different lecturers would speak in their special areas to the large lectures; then the students would meet again in conference. And the conference professor did all the grading of papers. (No machine exams.) (See http://www.reed.edu/humanities/hum110/.)
University of Chicago is known for its seminar style small classes.
One of the few colleges (besides St. John’s) that has all small seminar-style classes (Socratic method/round table discussion) is Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, CA. I’m sure this is not what the OP is looking for, since this college has no majors/no electives. Everyone studies the same liberal arts program for 4 years.
Bennington in Vermont also has narrative reports, thought a student can also request grades if he or she is concerned about grad school.
Lecture classes break into “sections” for discussion or small group work, often with grad students as teaching assistants leading them.
You never know- I took English classes as an adult at UMass Boston and the classes were quite small, and directly taught by the professor, with lots of discussion.
I agree it depends on the department size: smaller departments will have fewer large lectures, obviously, but a personalized experience is possible in CS or science.
One thing to look into: many students who have done AP’s or dual enrollment still select to do intro courses in CS or science once on campus, because the foundational sequence may be different at the new school.
Frosh/soph level math is generally fairly standardized, with a small number of exceptions (Caltech, Harvey Mudd), although course boundaries relative to the material covered may not fall in the same places at different schools. AP calculus credit is commonly allowed for subject credit or advanced placement.
Frosh/soph level CS tends to be much more variable in how it is organized and the type of assignments, projects, and computer languages used. AP CS credit is less likely than AP calculus credit to be allowed for subject credit or advanced placement.
Frosh/soph level biology, chemistry, and physics are mostly similar in topics covered, but the level of depth and rigor (and use of math in physics and sometimes chemistry) can vary, so some schools do not accept AP scores for subject credit in some or all of those subjects.
I always wonder why everyone thinks the students will do better in small seminar style classes. How many high schools have 75 students in a class? For that matter, how many have 6? Obviously thousands of kids go to big universities every year and take their first class with 50+ kids in it and it’s fine.
I’ve read on CC several times of parents (or former students) who thought the student would be better in a very small school often because of learning issues, ADHD, Asperger’s, and it turned out just the opposite. The student felt the small environment was too confining, they were expected to always participate when they just wanted to sit in a class and learn the material, not dissect it like a frog every day; really, sometimes you can just accept the information and don’t have to debate it in a small group.
D1 who is the LAC type student ended up at a 10,000 student campus and loves it. Even loves her bigger 120-200 student lectures, which also have a smaller discussion group once a week. Her first day as a freshman, she walked into a class of 200 and already knew 4-5 students from her dorm and activities, and she had an instant study group. Other daughter looked at a few LACs, but they just didn’t have big enough departments in the STEM subjects. One very small LAC had 5 math professors and about that many in the physics department. A course might only be offered once a year, and even then only one section offered. She is not a student looking to discuss every equation, every physics theory. Just the facts, ma’am is more her MO. She’s at a smaller engineering school, knows her professors and TAs, but is just fine with 30-40 kids in math classes and likes having a choice of 2 or 3 sections of a course each semester for time of day and for a favored professor. It would be easy to get behind in a sequence if you miss the only time a course is offered for the year.
Depending on the field, New College of Florida has very small classes and some good STEM fields.